The present invention relates to parlor games in general, and in particular to an educational board game that enables the players to learn more about the criminal justice system while being entertained and providing competition between two sides or teams. The game may be played by at least two participants, although normally play is best when there is an even number of participants divided into two separate teams.
Board and parlor games which are used to simulate various aspects of both real and imaginary experiences are, of course, well known and widely used both for entertainment as well as educational purposes. For example, there is the well known Monopoly board game (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,082), in which the players attempt to build real estate monopolies and divest their opponents of their real estate holdings and cash assets. Other board games have been proposed which attempt to simulate other real life experiences in the area of personal development (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,521), as well as the fields of business, government etc.
Such games achieve various degrees of success depending upon how wide their appeal is, the prolonged interest they can generate, how much variety there is in the play, how closely they approximate real-life situations, and to what degree one can acquire expertise through prolonged play. It is believed that the game according to the present invention is a game which will have a wide appeal since it can be played by participants of all ages, has a large amount of variety in the play, closely approximates real-life issues of the criminal justice system and thereby appeals to professionals in the criminal justice system as well as others interested in it, and has a good combination of luck and skill so that a degree of expertise can be acquired through prolonged play.
Key principals and components of the game according to the present invention include the provision of a game board shared by all of the players or participants, indicia on the game board to change from one "track" to the other, moveable indicia representing each of the players or teams and groups of question cards that the players must successfully answer before proceeding towards the ultimate goal.
The game according to the present invention includes a game board with a plurality of consecutive playing sections arranged thereon in two different tracks or patterns, each of the playing sections having indicia associated therewith; a plurality of moveable game pieces for movement from section to section of the game board, each moveable piece separately marked to distinguish from the other; a plurality of category questions, each category having three different levels of complexity or play; and means to variably advance movement of the moveable game pieces in the given direction on the game board.
In this arrangement, chance means are provided for advancing the moveable pieces around the game board from section to section and from track to track. Each playing section is keyed to a corresponding player piece selection means which correspond to indicia for distinguishing between the different categories of consecutive playing sections, thus selected playing sections on the game board have indicia indicating that the player-piece selection means may be employed. Preferably, the player-piece selection means are cards, the cards having a series of questions and a series of responses thereon, each series arranged in an increasing order of complexity or difficulty. The consecutive playing sections are keyed to the corresponding player-piece selection means by colored indicia.
Participants compete against each other in the form of two teams, each team being represented by a moveable player-piece. The playing sections on the game board are divided into two separate tracks disposed in a continuous path with each consecutive playing section having a corresponding category type, each differing from its adjacent neighbor. The tracks provide a "cross-over" area or box called a category space, and each category space is, in turn, linked to a retaining area or "trap" where the participating player or team must answer a challenge.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a parlor game that is both enjoyable to play as well as educational and instructive to the players concerning various aspects of the criminal justice system. This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, from the attached drawings, and from the appended claims.